Some mass transit vehicle interior lighting fixtures are known to include louvers or fins spaced axially along the length of an elongated cylindrical light source such as a fluorescent lamp. The louvers extend laterally from the lamps to direct light laterally into passenger seating areas and away from the windshield.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,099,451, issued Nov. 16, 1937 to Schepmoes (the Schepmoes patent), discloses a lighting fixture intended for use in "railroad cars and the like" that includes a plurality of parallel louvers or fins spaced axially along the length of a fluorescent lamp. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,992, issued Jan. 5, 1988 to Bartenbach et al. (the Bartenbach et al. patent), discloses a lighting fixture that includes a plurality of parallel louvers or fins spaced axially along the length of a fluorescent lamp. Each louver includes a circular hole sized to fit closely around the lamp.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,299,276 to Kirlin (the Kirlin patent) discloses racks of parallel louvers, each louver having a half-circular cutout sized to receive a fluorescent lamp. Each rack disclosed in the Kirlin patent includes a pair of C-shaped wire clips for clipping the louver racks onto the fluorescent lamp. In the louvers disclosed in the Shepmoes, Bartenbach et al. and Kirlin patents are configured to be supported directly on a fluorescent lamp.
What is needed is a window glare-reducing assembly that allows louvers to be mounted on and removed from an elongated cylindrical light source more quickly and easily.